Deflate gate or not, watching the New England Patriots dismantle the Indianapolis Colts 45-7 was a boring one-sided event. On the positive side I had an extremely delicious beverage called Catherine the Great Imperial Stout from Smisje, a tiny Belgian brewery.

The beer comes in a bottle that looks like an old fashioned root beer. It pours a thick head and looks fairly carbonated. The aroma is very chocolatey. It’s so malty it wouldn’t be weird at all to combine this with vanilla ice cream. On first sip you get the tell tale stout bitterness but a sweeter finish. The carbonation gives it a slight effervescent quality. It’s like a high quality stout with the finish of a soda pop. I rarely drink beer quickly but this one was so enjoyable, it made the AFC championship game almost tolerable.